Well, dear readers, I arrived in Auckland today at about 1130am… Yes I’m alive and in one-piece… haha! I hardly slept [grand total of 5 hours and getting woken up about 3-4 times… couldn’t be bothered to count] at all last night for various reasons such as a warm plane, wailing children and rather turbulent weather… on the good side, Dad and I managed to secure 3 seats between the 2 of us so I could half lie down and get as much rest as I could… lucky Wen and Mum managed to get an upgrade to business when they went… well, Mum did have a sprained ankle.

The airport in Auckland is quite nice really, large DFS, efficient customs, and actually, what matters is that it is quite a nice and slow paced place as after I went through customs, my heart rate seemed to slow down and relax after stepping out into the arrival hall. Dad and I then headed over to the Budget car rental counter to collect a car, the receptionist who was at the counter, was really humourous. I guess she has the typical kiwi humour and cracked plenty of jokes. Knowing dad, he could not make a decision swiftly and was tossing up between the Ford Territory and the Corolla, we stuck with the latter in the end… we have a GPS too!! That’s a lot of fun to use and it helped us to navigate to Citylife Auckland [hotel] quite painlessly… it tells you where to turn and how far away you are, however it is about 30-50 meters off…

Having been checked into the hotel [The bed here is super comfortable! It’s actually really soft and bouncy while mine at home is hardly like a rock], we dropped our bags down in our large and comfortable room, we went to explore Auckland and walk around. It seems to me to be that all the surf shops in New Zealand or more specifically Auckland on Queen’s street are in intense competition with each other! Quiksilver, Billabong, Oakley and Rip Curl are all within 3 blocks of each other. Sadly, nothing really interested me. There were 1-2 pairs of board shorts look ok, but nothing that grabbed me round that throat and screamed BUY ME, BUY ME!!!… However, there were some interesting and nice girly tees and bikinis that Jie would wear on her days off in Quiksilver and Rip Curl [as usual]. I also saw various cool bags in Rip Curl (incuding Jenevieve’s boyfriend’s bag) I wonder where was O’Neil and Reef, they’re the other 2 brands that I can think of at the moment that were invisible… perhaps they were hiding as they were afraid I’d clean out their inventory… yeah right, like I’ve got that much cash =P… I was right or rather, mum was right, Auckland is a rather relaxed and slightly sleepy city with most shops closing between 5 and 6 o’clock but there are some interesting shops including one that made jewelry and made some of their products on site. There was also a kiwi bookstore, which was really rather interesting as it had a feel like select books but more homey and welcoming.

I visited the university of Auckland, which was quite a lot of fun. The university campus is gigantic, with a variety of both old and new buildings. Being a kiwi? University, the school has a relaxed feel about the place and does not feel like a factory like some schools in Singapore. The students’ faces also told happy stories as opposed to sad ones which one sometimes encounters. We left at about 6:15 and on the way back we visited a craft shop, which was run by some very friendly and interesting people (hubby & wife) and, we bought a Jade pendant.

Having walked so much, we were feeling slightly hungry, Dad and I decided on dinner and we went to Zest, which is the hotel restaurant and it served some nicely cooked and flavour-some food! I had pork belly and dad had Lamb… Which isn’t high on my preference list… This restaurant was nice, spacious, had some large English windows, and subtle well-placed lighting so that one could read the menu easily and without the light being too bright as it reflects off the white paper. Deanna who was the waitress was really sweet and her collegue (who was a guy btw) was also good and efficient, and made some very good suggestions!

Dad and I will drive to Russell tomorrow which should take about 3-4 hours by looking at the map and estimating. We’ve actually planned out our driving/road tripping around the North Island of New Zealand, we’re going to do a big loop if possible, and do a north loop and a south loop or do a huge circle- ah whatever!!!! Tomorrow we are going to go from Auckland to Russell and spend 1 to 2 nights there. The rest from Russell is going to go something like this Snell’s Beach/point (1-2 night)- Auckland (pass through to get mum)-Hamilton (2 nights)- Auckland on Air New Zealand (fly to Queenstown)

Having been in England for about 5 weeks, this time last year, I’ve got to talk about the weather! The weather here is really very pleasant. I’ve been walking around in Jeans and a shirt, but would be quite happy in a pair of boardshorts and a comfy tee. The temperature seems to plunge at night and it gets quite chilly at night and in the early morning I would imagine… I have absolutely no idea what the temperatures are but I do know that the forecast said that the high is 26deg, low is 10.

For various people!!
Ms Lim: Sorry, I’ve yet to do more editing of your wedding photos [embarrassment]… I hope you’re enjoying your honeymoon!!! I’m sure enjoying my holiday even though I’m falling asleep in front of my computer!

Fishers: walked past the water near the hotel- TOTALLY UNFISHABLE!!!!!
Tien: I’m not freezing yet =P

Other friends: Missing you guys!!! Message me or email me if you need anything! But DON’T ASK FOR A LIVE SHEEP, that’s not possible as it won’t fit into my Samsonite or my Lowepro.
Photos to follow with commentary!!